Circles and Ripples

Goodness me friends it is along time since I have been at this spot and a news update is well over due! It has been a busy summer and full of all kinds of creative circles ! I spent a month in the UK and had some wonderful opportunities to collaborate with friends there as you can see......

 Landscape Sketching

First of all I got to work with Lu Shorthose in the luscious woods of the Surrey Wildlife Trust. Lu runs the wildlife education section of Nower Woods and we had the pleasure of working with a wonderful group of mixed age people who came sketching for the day. It was truly glorious weather, my overall sense of the day, was the stillness of the lakes, the soft swoop of dragonflies and the dappled shadows under the trees and the amount of times I got lost in the woods ! People made a great collection of " zoom in " sketches out and about,  then  we pulled those all together in the teaching room, to make a lovely landscape " portrait " which combined all of the magical small moments observed during the day. 

Mandalas in Hampshire

The next day I found myself at the Weyhill Forge, in the intriguing Eve's Garden studio that belongs to local artist, Christine Dodd. Christine also used to live in Hong Kong and we had once upon a time shared a studio on Lamma Island.

We worked with 14 wonderful mandala artistes that day, some even from Hong Kong and the group included a fabulous weaving of friends and even family from many chapters of my life. In this day long workshop, focus was amazing and people managed to learn the mandala technique and to make a small canvas painting. I am still receiving pictures of people's further art adventures in that group !

Hollow Spaces in Liverpool 

I am delighted to say that I had an another chance to work with Erin Faith Allen and Orly Avinieri through the Call of the Wild Soul group in Liverpool. We spent 3 days being guided by Orly to look at the notion of Hollow Spaces in our lives, to interpret that as we wished and to create a series of textured journal pages in response to poetry, visits and visual techniques. To meet with my other lovely Call of the Wild Soul sisters on this project was thoroughly nourishing and we loved getting to know Liverpool ! 

Red Doors :  Artful Journey 

On returning to Hong Kong I continued in the vein of collaboration and worked with Martha Collard at her new Red Doors studio in Wong Chuk Hang. Martha has made a labyrinth on the floor in her light and lovely space, and so after sharing our Gaytri Mantra chant at the start, Martha guided everyone to walk the labyrinth pondering a question of the day. We then used a prepared background to learn the 8 x point Mandala technique on a background depicting the sanskrit version of the Gaytri Mantra. Mindfully executing repeated motifs, people soon became absorbed in the rhythm of creating their very own mandala. Martha treated us all then to a short gong bath,  a profound conclusion to a day of circles.

I feel the need to express how much I love the fact that when workshops end.......the creative techniques that people have picked up can lead people in all kinds of directions!!

I'd like to introduce two mandala artists who have thoroughly immersed themselves in their own creative experiments, take a peek  ! 

Ripples across the Ocean 

These amazing images are created by the wonderful 80 year old Shirley Brockie who lives in New Zealand, her daughter Sarah Brockie came along on one of our Mandala Journey Weekends last year and then sent our Twinking H2O paints and Mandala booklet to her mum who has picked up the creative techniques and developed many of her own interpretations of the circle theme, she now has that mandala habit and continues to explored the technique in so very beautiful many ways ! 

Ripples through Hong Kong 

Lastly, I'd like to introduce you to Jenny Stocksen  who attended the Artful Journey workshop at Red Doors Studio. Jenny left the workshop that day and continued at home, and the next and the next day and the next ! She even got her daughters and husband mandala making and wrote these words to me:

I signed up for your workshop just to try something new, I had no idea what I was getting myself into. The last three days have been a wonderful journey through creativity and self discovery. I'm also happy to have found a great way of dealing with jet lag. Working on a Mandala keeps me happily awake during the day so I can sleep at night. Hardly any of the usual pain and struggle. So grateful!  I just couldn't help myself;) I started and couldn't stop.

How utterly perfect, the creativity seeds lies with us all and often times it is just a question of finding an access key to enable those seeds to blossom forth.....this mandala making technique offers a wonderful open structure which allows people creative freedom and the confidence to absolutely burst into creativity  !! 

What a scrumptious and delightful summer of creative moments shared with so many wonderful people ! 

Until next time my friends 

keep creating and sending me your amazing images! 

artfully yours 

Katie xxx

Mums and Daughters "Love-in" !

When I tell people I am an art teacher, they all too frequently tell me, that they think they are not creative and they have not made art since primary school !!

Yet when I witness children in the HKIS artroom showing their parents how to learn a new artskill, I observe children and parents engaging in a deeply intimate way as the child often takes on the role of helping their parent to have confidence!  I also hear parents describe their very own longing to create art themselves...........and yet often referring to a lack of time or confidence or space...

In response to this, Claire and I decided to facilitate a workshop day that would provide the time and  space for both a child and parent to create together.  This led to our very first Wild at Art "Mums and Daughters" day enabling Mums to intentionalise a whole day together, whilst being gently guided to make an artwork in celebration of that unique bond. 

A gorgeous way to start the day .....with a spot of interactive doodling !!

So in a rather lovely location, overlooking Aberdeen Harbour and in the presence of 14 x lovely Mums and Daughters, we spent the day together creating art ........

Some mums were a bit intrepid about moving out of their comfort zone, so we began the day with a failsafe spot of interactive doodling, following the Wild at Art Doodle Recipe and gradually people loosened up and melted into the process, as they each created a segment and then swapped papers and responded to the doodle that the other one had created. The room was quiet as Mums and Daughters worked side by side, relaxing into a sense of play.

So then mums and daughters worked in two groups with Claire and I, sharing some thoughts about our respective roles, commonalities, joys, thorns and special moments.

Finding common feelings, shared joys....offering insights to each other along the way.

 Culminating on the writing of some very tender loveletters........

  

  

  

  

  

  

These went on to be shared together. 

  

  

  

Such gentle tenderness........and a few joyous tears...then everyone went on to develop our love shrines, creating memory pockets, and self portraits of each other.

  

   

My observation of the day was that the gentle sharing of a creative activity, in an atmosphere of neutrality and safety can encourage both Mums and Daughters to engage in a very intimate way, actively listening to each other and giving time to respond. Working on a project together provides a "third thing" to focus upon and can provide a necessary pause in life's web of busy-ness. Offering an opportunity to celebrate the good parts of being who we are, whilst nodding to the tricky parts, helped both our Mums and their Daughters to see that they also face the similar joys and challenges that other families do......and shared realisations can provide room for a little perspective to move in. 

Both mums and daughters acknowledged the challenges of carving out quality time especially in multiple sibling families. It truly was a gift to all of us in the room! Some mums are returning in the Autumn for the next Mums and Daughters day with other sibling daughters as well!

What our Mums said :

The Mother Daughter Art Day was an incredible day of bonding with my daughter that allowed us both the opportunity to be creative, reflective, and have fun. It's one of those special days that Lily and I will remember for a long time to come. Naturally, Ava was a tad jealous. :) I will be signing up for future retreats with Katie and Claire they are amazing and even made a person like me who doesn't always feel very creative, feel really creative! It just was really well done from start to finish. I seriously loved every minute of it.

Erin Wright April 2015

“a uniquely special day for me and my daughter, I don’t think either of us have ever engaged in creativity in this way before but we both came away from our day with Katie & Claire with such a strong sense of being connected to each other & so proud of what we had created in the day”

Charlotte Douglas April 2015

Gorgeous day, Imogen wants to know when we can do another one!!

Emma Willmott April 2015

Polly keeps on saying it was the best day of her life...it was such an amazing experience, such a lovely thing to do ! You guys did a fabulous job!

Louise Keeping April 2015

An Illustrated Life

As a practising artist and art teacher, this is what I observe..........within us all there is a silent language that reveals the truth of our thoughts, feelings and emotions far more fluently than words alone.

Creating an art journal can be a wonderful place to explore and articulate that silent language, to play and process daily thoughts and experiences, without words and without it taking the shape of a conventional diary. 

An art journal can grow into a place to source new ideas, grow inspirations, and play with the dreams that flow in and out of our conscious or even sub conscious mind.

I keep art journals all the time and almost for a multitude of purposes. Right now I am in a situation where a very portable practice has become essential and so am working on a daily visual that has helped me focus or contemplate on the essence or small moment of a day...so I have created it as a calendar...

I make a small space for each day, just enough for a vignette, a small creation.....it could be a doodle, a collage, or both, a word, a quote or headline  !!

You see I have a compulsion to fiddle and play inside a sketchbook, each and everyday.So it looks like diary but I wouldn’t call it a diary, in the conventional sense, it’s more like a place to collect the residuum of a day, so an entry may be based around a current event, a funny remark or thought,  the weather, wildlife on Lamma, a good idea, an outing, a saying......anything !

Like the day Dorothy Cat came back after 7 weeks absence, or the day that Claire and I laughed even more than normal ! My haircut at Hollywood Hair, the Stephen Hawkin film, or day it was unexpectedly sunny!

February is busy month at Flowers Towers, what with Valentines day, Chinese New Year, day trips and birthdays !

So there was lots to say......

The great thing about art journaling is that you do not have to be an expert in any special art method ! And you do not need an art studio. Art Journaling can be Art-on- the-Go, Art in-Small-Spaces and Art for absolutely anyone at all who fancies a dabble and a play and of course it can be as shareable as you like......you might not wish to share your journal pages with anyone at all!

A few Chinese New Year Goals and wishes to be hidden in the Lai See packets......

Year of the Goat papercuts

Nothing like TV Watching Doodles and look.............even more to come ........

The year has just begun....so watch this space !!

What will March bring I wonder..................

Why not make a calendar page for yourself my friend, try doing a month for March and see what happens, no rules, just experiment......map out some spaces and off you go!

or you could join our Joyous Journalling workshop weekend in May.

Good Luck and have fun 
with 
love

 from 

Katie xxxx